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2011-08-19 - Sad Reunion
The conflict, anger, and confusion has been high in Mutant Town. First, there was the appearance of Magneto, then the fires, the fight over the fallout of two mutant boys, and the list goes on-and-on. The point is, things are working toward a very nasty explosion. The man formerly known as Scott Summers realizes this. He moved here as Slim Sumter a while ago, blending in with the local life, and realizing that life is actually just getting sadder and sadder. After Mutant Town made the news so many times, he couldn't stand by any longer. Still, he is far from ready to pick up the mantel of his former codename, Cyclops. So he picks up the codename he used in the Meta-Brawl, Erik the Red. He kept things as low as possible, not difficult considering cops don't like to go into the innards of Mutant Town a.k.a. District X, no more than they like doing so for Suicide Slum. Currently, Erik the Red is tracking some drug trafficers. Their crack house was abondoned when they got word that one of their other crack houses was taken down. They moved on. Erik the Red moves about the abondoned apartment building, emptied out so fast it wasn't funny. He goes through trash that makes his stomach roll, and searches for papers. He finds what he is looking for dropped in the corner of a room. He is a tactician, not an investigator, but he can at least find a clue this simple. It's called a receipt where the words Yuletide Street are written on it, the numbers blurred out. At least he has a street to start with he hopes. He is quick to take the back allies to Yuletide Street. The sun set about two hours ago, and by the time Erik the Red reaches the street, it's almost empty. He starts walking, and keeping alert to the going-ons, hoping to catch a deal, or a front man that draws in the regulars. Sadly, he has little to go by, as he doesn't know what the front man looks like. Despite her elevation to the ranks of the wealthy, Jean Grey never stopped coming to Mutant Town. Partially, she was doing what she felt was right, helping in a soup kitchen, although now she was surreptitiously adding a few extra quality ingredients, extra supplies that used to be even more rare, far too little, but hopefully not too late. She was also there to reconnoiter the place with the mind to cover, angles, all the tactical stuff that Scott used to do when they were all happy X-Men together, but now she's doing it in service to a far scarier Erik, Magneto himself. War might be inevitable, but anything she can do to save lives, she'll do it, including finding places to hide for those whose abilities and skills make them nothing more than potential victims. Her mind is on her chosen task as the walks down the street, keeping tabs on the mental states around her, since most violence tends to be mentally broacast and she's listening. To ensure she's not hassled, she's not suddenly wearing anything different than she always did when coming here, so most people don't look twice at her, except a few envious or jealous looks at her being obviously human, no visible deformities, although she's wearing her hoodie with the hood up, so a stranger might assume she's hiding something. Erik the Red is in uniform which looks far out of place. Obviously a costumed entity that few wish to tangle with or test. The very few people on the street avoid him. He notices someone in a hoody down the street, but they are moving along. They aren't the front man. He frowns, deep in thought...he rarely ever smiles these days. Though the deeper angery is gone, his faith in mankind is still pretty shattered. He is still not easily recognizable as the Scott Summers you were once so close to. He pauses as he sees someone stumble out from an apartment complex door, the door barely on its hinge. They weave a bit as they walk down the street, higher than a kite. A kid follows along behind them, whimpering that they are hungry. This is why Erik the Red is here. This escapism is not helping anyone, especially not the victim. It's polluting them, and destroying any chance at a future they have left! He walks up toward the door the woman just exited from, soon coming face-to-face with the front man. "Excuse me," the cool voice of Erik the Red speaks out, and underlaying anger there. The front man just grins, missing teeth. "This isn't halloween kid. Get lost." His eyes glow a strange gold. Another mutant. The mental whimpering of the child garners Jean's attention far more quickly than the sound of a voice that she remembers well from years of training together. One of the downsides of being empathic or telepathic is that strong emotions ping up against her shields stronger than the standard mental babble that waxes and wanes around her. Her green eyes focus on the impending 'scene', not recognizing Scott in his costume at the moment, more intent on the kid than the adults, frowning as she changes her course to meet up with the young one, reaching into her rucksack and pushing aside the fabric of her costume to fish out a sandwich she'd saved for herself for later. "Hey," she says, trying to get the child's attention by holding up and waving the sandwich a little bit, anything to distract the kid from the two older people. Shoring up her mental defenses, she also creates an invisible low-level telekinetic shield between her target and the other two, just in case they start engaging in fisticuffs or worse. The kid looks over to Jean, nervous as he tries to stop his mother from wandering into the road. He's a child...he shouldn't have to be this responsible when he isn't even old enough to fix his own food. His eyes look so sad, and he almost runs when he sees the sandwich, as if afraid of Jean and the food offer....his hunger wins out though and he grabs for the sandwich. "Tha...thank...you," he stumbles out, still trying to keep an eye on his mother even as he rips the sandwich cover off to eat it. He is so very hungry, sharp pains attack his stomach. He loves his mother though, and he's so very sad she is like this. He doesn't really remember any other life. There is so much grief here. Erik the Red's jaw sets. "I suggest you rethink your words and step aside." "Na, you ain't a customer, and I don't see no money. Just a kinky suit, that can get you killed. Back down little man." The eyes glow brighter and the mutant's muscles seem to grow in size. Erik the Red just lets him keep growing until he is about read to swing. "That took forever." He then reaches a hand up to his visor and sets off one hell of a red optic blast that sends the mutant front man flying throw the front door and through the narrow hall of the apartment complex, and into the back wall, which he leaves badly dented. The front man starts to get back up, and Erik the Red just blasts him again, till he ends up going through the opposing wall. He then walks on inside, to find which apartments have the drugs in, and any attendents. That wasn't even a fight, it was cold precision and mockery. Or perhaps cold anger, at the harm the front man was doing unto others on a physical and emotional level...that Erik the Red wanted to knock him down more than a few notches by shaming him. This is a new type of battle, one of emotional warfare....to break those killing the hope in Mutant Town. One that could dangerously backfire. "Eat it slowly," Jean advises kindly, having seen this /far/ too often here in Mutant Town. Hiding her angry thoughts that someone would neglect a child, she focuses mostly on ensuring her new charge didn't gorge himself and make himself sick on the sandwich. Then as Erik continues to speak, her eyes widen. She knows that voice so well. The commanding leadership voice that kept the X-Men alive on more than one occasion. And the suspicion is confirmed when the optic blast lances out. Jean's reflexes are sharp, still honed to a fine edge, using her TK shield to gently guide the kid out of the potential line of fire and danger. Her thoughts go questing toward her former comrade in arms. << Scott. >> Just his real name, spoken in the firm tone he was well used to before the mansion was destroyed, unlike what she was like when they first met. << What are you doing? >> Erik the Red freezes at that voice inside his head, the shock of it overwhelming at first. There is a brief moment of joy at hearing it, and then his emotions lock up again...especially when he soon has to dodge aside from a half opened door when a bullet slams through it, almost nailing him. He sends a low-level blast at the door to shattere it, sending splitters all over the place. But considering what the victims jab in their veins, this is likely nothing. Erik the Red then works to ignore the voice in his head, as he goes on to achieve his mission, closing this drug trafficing down. It is one of many, but he can only handle one at a time. The kid soon helps his mom lean up against the building, staying close to the nice lady as he eats the sandwich a bit more slowly, eying you as if afraid you will take it away from him. "It's good," he says. He stops from eating all of it, leaving a quarter left even though he is still starving to offer it to his mostly out of it mother. "Mom, you got to eat too." The sheer compassion inside this kid is moving, his ability to love and forgive perhaps utterly amazing for an adult that has been through so much. There is no hatred in the kid toward his mom or his situation, no real anger. He just wants to help his mom, and not be hungry. This is what saving Mutant Town is all about, is for a child like this, a child that is currently helping his mother eat the last bit of his sandwich, and that is when the spikes on the underside of her arms are revealed beneath the ripped quartersleeves of her blouse. An obvious mutant, and the chances of her son becoming one? Who knows. She slowly works to chew the sandwich to get some food in her belly. She smiles at her kid and pats his head approvingly. She's in pain, and suffering...she wants to escape...part of her wants to die, she's tired of selling her body. But she has such a good boy, doesn't she? And then she blacks out, back into a drug haze. Jean Grey grimaces as Scott shuts her out mentally, but quickly wipes the expression away, pulling the water bottle out of its webbed pocket on her rucksack and holding it out to the kid and his mom. "Here, this might help too," she offers, making no move to try and stop the child from eating or giving the last bit of the sandwich to his mom. Internally, she sighs as the woman falls back into a drugged stupor. The compassion the young boy shows is so strikingly profound when she knows someone who suffered as much or more as this boy, whose heart is as cold as that of the man currently being shot at inside. Men! "Do you have any relatives who might be able to help us?" she asks of the kid, even as the sound of gunfire goes off. People around her don't run toward the scene to help. They scurry for cover, knowing better than to get involved. Jean knows that the cops won't help a junkie, and taking the woman to a hospital was going to be difficult, even with her newfound wealth at hand to try and open some doors. "There should at least be a clinic... wasn't there one down that way?" She slowly gestures toward the street, the main drag into Mutant Town, an attempt to engage the child's participation in helping to save his mom beyond what he's done so far. The kid accepts the water, sniffs at it, and then drinks it. He smiles at it, knowing it isn't something bad to drink. But the smile fades and he shakes his head at the mention of relatives. He looks sad again, and doesn't really talk. He is dreadfully shy, and normally would have ran away, but your sheer kindness, has kept him lingering even though he wants to get his mom home and tucked in bed. The kid frowns at that, "What can a...clinic do?" He sounds confused at this concept. Don't they just give out more drugs? "Can they help mom get better, so she isn't sick?" Erik the Red soon rolls around and shoots inside with his optic blasts this time at a low intensity. It knocks the gun man back into a wall which causes it to indent, but the man is fine and just groans slightly. He then runs inside when the other attendent goes to run for it. His hand-to-hand skills are much less compassionate to the drug dealer. And those inside? Are either to scared, or rather too drugged out to help out or care. No matter at how Erik the Red rages against the uselessness of the situation, he can't stop trying to help. And part of him, doesn't even understand why he can't stop helping...but the part of him that still holds Xavier in memory does. He cannot let go of even the possiblity of help. "That's what they try to do," Jean affirms gently. "I'd prefer to get her to a proper hospital and into rehab, but I can't make that choice for her, but the clinic might help in the short term. "We can't just let her crash out here, after all, it might rain or something." And while it's technically against what she was taught by Charles Xavier, she still does enough of a mental nudge to keep her new charge mostly unaware of what's going on, her one-time friend blasting things in the building and trying to see some kind of justice carried out. "Unless you have a better idea where we could go...?" she asks hesitantly, again a tactic to enlist the help of her newfound friend. "I...just know home. If they can help her...I can try and go to the clinic," the boy admits. "How do you get there?" He isn't sure, and the kid is a little too young to read very well, he is just Elementary school, perhaps first or second...if he is even going to school. Erik the Red leaves the man on the ground, whimpering in pain. While the druggies watch, he picks up whatever he can to toss the drugs and needles in. They start to whine and complaining, the ones alert enough, but Erik the Red just says, "Sit down, NOW!" His voice is commanding. "You don't need this stuff. If you just fought for your life, it...," and then his words fail him. He could once give motivational speeches, but something died in him when Xavier died...least he felt that way. "You just think you need it," he finally ends. "Take your life back, drugs, and criminals, not even the government have the right to steal your life away." And he then notices a metal box. The money box. He picks it up...he will drop it off somewhere that can make use of it, perhaps the soup kitchen, the clinic, or even a local church. Any place but the government and criminals. The druggies at this point, would sadly just spend it on drugs again, so there wasn't much point of giving it back. He walks out, checking to see that the guy that flew out of the newly opened back door is still laying there. He is. He then opts to go for the front door. He can't hide from Jean forever, and though he expects a fight, or at least a bad disagreement, he won't run from it when faced with it. Jean Grey is too busy presenting a helpful face and comfort to the boy to show the disapproval in her mind for Scott's antics. "It's just a couple of blocks away," she says encouragingly, crouching to try and hoist the mother up, making judicious use of her TK to assist. "I can help you get there, and they should be able to at least start trying to help your mom. I'm sorry to say that it won't be easy, but it's better than going back there right now," she adds, gesturing to the apartment building. "So what's your name?" she then queries encouragingly. Since she's in civvies she adds, "Mine's Jean." The boy nods, and seems willing to follow, sticking close to his mom. He then grins a smile with a missing tooth in it, "Mine's Jean too." He seems to find this funny, though he doesn't laugh out loud. "Can she really get better you think?" He sounds curious as to your answer, he wants to help his mommy. That is what Erik the Red witnesses when he exits the building. You helping a drug victim, and her little boy. His heart contracts, it's painful feeling...though it feels physical, it's all in reality emotional. He soon ducks into a nearby alleyway to destroy the drugs, and if Jean is listening in, he plans to follow. He knows what he wants to do with the money if he can...ask the clinic about a local drug rehab group....and if there isn't one, give the money to the clinic to try and help more people. "Really? Jean like the French name, mm?" the redhead queries with a slight smile. "It's the way they spell it over there, same as mine. And yes, your mother /can/ get better. It will likely be a very difficult process, perhaps very painful for both of you... overcoming an addition is very hard, and so easy to fall back into, but if she has someone like you in her corner, she has a /much/ better chance of getting through this." And she's well aware that Scott is shadowing them. << I have about twenty billion questions for you, Scott, >> she says privately to him, her mental voice a monotone. << But... I'm glad to know you're still alive, at least. >> She gives him that much, and it's the truth. Even despite the sexual tension between them, they still manage to be friends, at the core of their relationship. However, there's still the pending notion that this Lucy's got some 'splainin' to do, but it has to wait until the junkie and her son are settled first. << I know... >> and Scott hides from most of his emotions as per usual. But there is something you can pick up...a pleasure at knowing you are doing well. He is still in a uniform, and soon pauses before getting too close to the clinic. He projects his thoughts, << Can you see if there is a local rehab group, or if the clinic can act as such? I want them to have the money. It's not a lot, but looks to be a little over a thousand in this box...it can do some good. >> The boy doesn't notice Erik the Red following them. He nods thoughtfully, "French? I didn't know that." He appears so very serious at such a young age. "I want to help mommy get better. She's always hurtin'. And the drugs make her feel better, but...I don't think she's really feeling better," he admits, obviously worried about his mother. He looks at the front of the clinic, glancing around as if to make sure he still has his bearings before he will follow you inside. "You're quite right," Jean says to her namesake. "Very smart of you to pick up on that," she adds, deliberately using 'smart' instead of 'astute', given the child's age. "It's an illusion of getting better, but you've probably seen her get worse again." She helps the woman into the clinic and begins the process of getting information down so that she can be helped. "This way, she has a good chance of getting better, the right way, and hopefully will get to stay that way. But it's not gonna be easy for either of you. You just have to stay strong and try and help protect her from people who would try and drag her back onto drugs or worse. She doesn't need that kind of help, and neither do you." Of course, this not being an official clinic in that all the red tape is there, some of the legal niceties in a real hospital aren't observed, but the caring of the staff is unequaled. << That'll help. I have some money I can donate as well. >> Which she didn't have the last time they ever talked. She makes sure the clinic staff has her contact information and firmly insists that the woman be treated when one of the desk secretaries shows hesitation about helping a junkie who might not be able to pay even a little for her care. Fishing for the information Scott was looking for, a rehab linked to a decent halfway house, she mentally leaves him the information and waits for the clinic to do its job. Jean is very thoughtful as he listens attently. He may not understand all of it, but he understands most of it. He says, "Yes, she gets worse again, and again." He worries her lower lip when his mom gets checked in, and he won't leave her side. He is quiet and attentive, and when they agree to treat his mom, he determinedly goes with her, and the only time he pushes his shyness aside, is to ask pointed questions about what they are doing to his mom. He is a protective little thing over his mother. Erik the Red mentally acknowledges the information, and projects a new location to meet. He is going to take care of the money. It will give you both time to gather your thoughts before the two of you speak to one another, and he seizes that chance. Because honestly, he has no idea what to say to you right now, though there is wondering where she got the money she has. Jean Grey isn't permitted to go back into the treatment area, because she's not family, and she nods. Once the staff is done processing all the information for her, she makes a few calls on the boy's behalf to try and rustle up followup help, because she's not social services and has no way of truly helping this family beyond what she's done right now. And thus, she has to leave the boy in the care of the 'system', such that it is, and after a final farewell to her namesake, she heads back outside, heading unerringly for where Scott's lurking. She takes her time to compose her mind on the walk, carefully setting aside any of her negative emotions associated with his abrupt departure from her life and this subsequent reappearance. And when she finally finds him, she takes a few moments to study him silent, her mind closed to him, and then she just says one word. "So..." Erik the Red dropped off the money and is at the meeting location. The place soon knew his name as just that 'Erik the Red'. To him, Cyclops is still no more. The man you once knew as Scott, a close friend, leans against a crumbling building, arms crossed over his black clad chest. He studies you through his visor for a few moments once you speak, before finally saying, "I'm glad you seem to be doing well. How are...the others?" Apparently he cut ties with everyone when he disappeared. Jean Grey shrugs as she keeps her hood up, because she's not in costume right now, and she really doesn't need to be stalked by any more photographers. "I have no idea," she replies to him in a cool tone of voice, hitching her rucksack back into position on one shoulder. "You're the first one I've talked to in awhile, actually. Seems everyone's too busy to stay in touch." She pauses for a few moments, eyes roving over his attire, and then she adds, "The lawyers finally settled Charles' estate." And then she leaves him dangling, waiting for him to ask, since his name wasn't on the will or no one contacted him. Scott Summers is legally dead, there was no way to get ahold of him. Erik the Red winces visible, the emotional reaction to that was so violent that he could not hide the physical aspects of it. It's good you have your mind closed, because the pain is sharp and reopens the wounds he thought he locked away. "I...see. How did that go?" He doesn't want to ask, but he does. The man before you has always tried to be practical. Jean Grey folds her arms over her chest and shrugs. "He gave me the vast majority of his money and personal possessions." Hence why she can donate money to something. "And then he gave the house and other real estate to Erik Lehnsherr. Magneto." As if Scott didn't know one was the other. "I flashed Hank a message to get out as soon as the lawyer read that bit of the will, and he wasn't there when Erik and I toured the grounds." She pauses for a moment. "The will stipulated that Erik had to use the land and remaining buildings for a school." Behind the visor, Erik the Red is blinking. He did notice the ironic use of his new codename until just now. Subconscious? "A school? And how can he be sure the government won't just attack and blow that one up to?" The bitterness is there in his tone, and the shock. "He...won't really open up a school, will he?" "He has to, else the real estate devolves to me, per the terms of the will," Jean answers quietly. "And I don't think he has any intentions of letting that happen. Nor does he have any intentions of letting the school be attacked. I believe he plans on making it more of a military base, with more active defenses and plans to retaliate should anyone try to attack." She absently scuffs a sneaker on the ground, eyes not on Scott eyes through his visor, but on some point on his chest, so she doesn't have to meet his gaze. "Don't know if you've seen the news, but he's been mentioned as a mutant terrorist, which means he's making himself a target." "I've seen it, a battle with Iron Man as well...an attack on a bank. Which I really don't understand, and found really...," a pause and then he finally says what is on his mind, "asinine and stupid. I know why though, he wanted to hurt the government, but by doing so, he hurt the people. Especially those poorest, by doing so financially." Scott was an intelligent one, not smart like Hank, but he has his moments. "I'm not really sure what his real goal is. He seems sporatic right now, as if he has little purpose. But it could all be an illusion as well. Or perhaps the school idea can give him the firm goal he wants...who knows. I don't know where he has been these last few years." "I haven't asked him directly," Jean replies with a shrug. "I do know he refuses to allow the attack on the school be repeated, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that those responsible are given justice. Y'see, there was a government lady, an Amanda Waller, who /seems/ to have felt sorry about Charles' death and the attack on the school, but Erik doesn't trust her, and I'm not sure I do either. What little I gleaned from her mind seemed legit, but without violating my personal ethics and doing a full scan, there's no way to know for sure." At the mention of Iron Man, of course, a careful neutrality crosses Jean's features. Most people wouldn't pick up on it, but this is Scott. "There are other concerns too," she finally adds, shaking her head to ward off those sorts of thoughts. "A dangerous alien named General Zod. He nearly killed me last month. If not for the fact that he seems vulnerable to telepathic attack, he would have wiped the floor with me and Iron Man. As it was, it was a near miss." Slim catches the expression, but before he can comment on it, you mention Zod. He doesn't want to think about that. "You don't have good enough support Jean, you shouldn't be...," heroing? He is solo heroing in his own way himself. Does he even have a right to say it? But it is there, silent, but there. You at least successful distracted him from the expression over Iron Man, something he might remember later on. "Well, least you luckily didn't get arrested after being almost wiped with the floor, it being a criminal act to help others out," and he scowls at that. Yes, Scott scowled. Hey, it's like when you said you were friends with Tony! Well, close enough. Jean Grey remarks tartly, "I /had/ support until it wandered off." Zing. "And that particular incident, it wasn't meant to be a fight... it's not my fault or Iron Man's that Zod was a complete and utter..." and she says a word not fit for polite company. "And stupidly powerful. It'd take a whole team to take him down, or at least a whole team to keep him off of me while I fried his brain, which I intend to do the next time I see him if he so much as looks at me funny." Jean's brush with death... that had scared the hell out of her and Tony, making them realize just how close their new relationship had come to a nasty end. And she grimaces at the mention of getting arrested. "I'm not likely to get arrested. Iron Man and Ms. Marvel have both helped me in carpers, and neither of them hauled me in. Mostly because I'm not going around attacking people first. There /is/ a system here, as broken as it is. You go out and vigilante against whom /you/ perceive as a bad guy, you might as well just come back to the mansion's remains with me and join Magneto, so I can try and moderate your sorry ass too. I'm /trying/ to stop a race war, and crap like this isn't helping." Alright, point taken there. Slim can't deny that exactly, he wasn't there for you. He doesn't even try to deny it. His frown deepens, but he doesn't speak up till you invite him to the...what the?! "Wait, you are helping Magneto refound a school in those ashes?" His tone is likely a bit more sharp than he intended it to be, actually, it is. The fact you are willing to try again is shocking enough, but with Magneto?! "And you think, Magneto can stop a race war? I'm note even sure there is a way to stop it when the leading men against it are murdered by the very government he was trying to protect!" "You really don't get it, do you?" Jean fires back, gesticulating not quite wildly, but pointedly. "He's going to do it anyway, no matter what I do. But, if I'm there, I can help present him with options he might not see himself, I can try to persuade him not to initiate hostilities. I can help protect everyone from him and maybe even get him to realize at least /some/ part of what Charles taught all of us. Magneto doesn't realize that if we get all pre-emptive badass on people, that Holocaust he lived through will happen again! There's a ton more non-mutants than there are mutants... much less mutants with battle-capable powers... we'll all get locked up and tattooed and gassed, like his people did in World War II. And he used to be our teacher, just like Charles... on some level, we owe him to try and help him... but the way Charles would help him." And then she frowns. "Well. Maybe you don't owe him, but I do. And I owe it to the mutants that he will invariably recruit to try and teach them Charles' way too, because that's what Charles would want, to give them more options than just fight fight and goddammit, die." And then she looks away entirely, turning from Scott to look out from their meeting place, hugging herself tightly. "I know just how thin and narrow the tightrope I walk is... hell, once Magneto finds out I'm acquainted with a couple of the Sentinels, all hell will break loose. He's already gotten snide about the fact I'm dating a human." "Well...," that is in the open. Dating a human, and actually, that isn't the dominate thought in Slim's mind right now. Xavier is, but it's a really damn close second, higher than the Sentinels association. Jean's rant did do something to Slim, got him to finally start really communicating some. "Who cares what he thinks? Do what you think is right Jean, you are the one that has to live with yourself after all." He doesn't comment about what he owes Xavier's memory....he has been living in this hell hole, he sees what the so-called government does for Mutant Town, for mutants in general. It's horrifying. His own hope has been broken, and when he fought for air, he found himself drowning. He still is. "I...can't join," Slim finally says. "Not in the memory to protect something that a man was slaughtered over by the very think he protected. I just...can't," not right now. He isn't ready. "I have my own missions and goals right now Jean." The two stand beneath a very ragged overhang before a store that has long since went out of business in Mutant Town. The streets are very dark, most of the street lights broken, and no one is really up and about right now. "I can't just join blindly anymore, just hoping for something better," Slim admits. "I...don't even go by my own codename anymore." His mouth twists a bit, "I go by Erik the Red." Yes, he has realized during this conversation the ironic aspects of that. He is concerned about Jean though and the danger she puts herself in. "So...a human?" It isn't the fact he is human that bugs Slim really...it's the fact Jean is likely dating anyone...and Jean isn't the type to casually date. "Never mind, don't bother commenting. I know the answers to my unspoken questions already. Just as long as you are happy, seriously." Awww, special moment. Take a picture. Jean Grey is wearing her hoodie and student attire, mostly because she's not about to flash good clothes around here, wouldn't be wise. "I'm not asking you to blindly join anything," she points out, her moments of wild gestures over for the nonce. "And you're not the first X-Man to change their codename," she reminds him. "Ironic that you used his first name," she says, since he didn't actually speak to the irony. When he inquires about her love life, she shrugs. "I am happy with my choice. But any choice represents danger, because we don't lead safe lifestyles, do we?" Ah, if only he knew just how tight that tightrope was... Slim doesn't really have anything to add to Jean's words, what can he say to them. He does at least make some effort however. He quietly offers his phone number to Jean. It's a track phone number. "You can reach me there, when I'm not in the air," he means flying. After that, he just stands there before finally moving to give Jean a very awkward hug. "Be careful," he says before he moves to leave. Category:Logs